Trackside Lounge: 2Q 2010

[CShaveRR]

Stormy weather all over the place this past week, it seems. The CSX line in my old stomping grounds suffered a washout from the storms Friday night (on the grade from New Richmond to East Saugatuck--a line that has sometimes required helpers). Freights on the route were delayed; Amtrak was reportedly cancelled for a day.

Bruce, the flooding in your area is hard for me to visualize--rising lake levels, massive washouts. These are not your typical "gully-washers"!

Might get in a little railfanning today in Joliet, on one side or the other of a very important appointment. May be able to share some details this evening.

[AgentKid]

Through the miracle of VCR technology I was able to look at all three networks late news programs. It seems the folks in the flood areas may have dodged a bit of a bullet today. There was not as much new rain today as had been forecast. They do however still have big problems.

There was one amazing scene. A reporter was interviewing a flooded out resident and in the background was a CP railroad track suspended in midair above and behind them. That is going to take a terrific amount of fill to get that track back on solid ground. This is not going to be an easy thing to fix.

Bruce

 

[AgentKid]

CShaveRR

three bands of thunderstorms go through here yesterday

 

I have had a fascinating past few days following the news and weather. As mentioned on today's Newswire, CP has had one of several washouts at Irvine, AB on Friday, about 25 miles west of our old station at Hatton, SK.

I was sort of listening to the 11:00 PM news on Friday, when I heard that they had to evacuate the hospital at Maple Creek, SK, 19 miles east of Hatton. This jolted me awake like I had stuck my finger in an electric socket. That there would be enough water, in one place, anywhere in that area to require an evacuation would be like hearing about an ice cap forming over the Mojave Desert, to use an American reference.

As a result of all this, I have had a couple of really interesting conversations with my mother, about that area, over the past couple of days. She was so concerned about a shallow lake north and east of Hatton that you would think she was still living there. It is the type of situation where if the water level rose about a foot, the surface area of the lake would increase by several square miles.

As mentioned in the Newswire story, the area is so arid that Hatton is now listed on the Ghost Towns of Saskatchewan website.

Since the branchline era has ended, there is also no easy detour route available anymore. As an example, to get around a 1.8 mile flooded section on the Trans-Canada Highway, the only detour fit for commercial trucks is 120 miles long. That is only a fraction of what the railway detour distance is going to be.

I have a feeling I am going to be a real news junkie before this mess is cleared up.

Bruce

 

[CShaveRR]

Daughter and grandchildren met us for lunch at the Main Street Cafe in Lombard. It's right on the busiest corner downtown, so lots of action to keep two-year-old Nico satisfied--fire engines (there's a fire department building a block or so away), trucks, buses, and trains (we had a coal train, an empty coal train and a scoot go through while we had a late breakfast/early lunch). Nico still gets excited at just about anything that moves, but he's learning to tone it down just a bit.

The girls were well-behaved, too--and I'm now the proud owner of three poster-sized Father's Day greetings, one from each of the kids. They were sorry for missing the day yesterday, but had had a rough time the night before, and were coming home from central Wisconsin (Green Lake, Dan--ought to be somewhat familiar to you, I suspect).

Larry, questions were asked you about how your two-year-old grandchild has reacted to the new arrival. I think that Emily (who had just turned two when Nico was born) was always ready for him, and has smothered him with affection right from the start. Sometimes that smothering looks like it'll lead to suffocation, but things are changing--Nico is talking a little, so Emily talks to him a bit more, but I think she's in for a surprise whenever Nico is big enough to enforce his wishes for Emily to back off a little on the hugs (around the neck) and smooches.

[Modelcar]

CShaveRR

an Infiniti M45--a very nice car,

Oh, yes, and a very capable one.....A sport sedan of high degree.  $50,000 plus.

[CNW 6000]

I don't have anything exciting to report today either.  I haven't even seen any tracks in what seems like at least 3 weeks...been too busy working on the house and with Aedan and my job (present one anyway).  One of my irons in the fire cooled unexpectedly...which put a damper on things last week...this morning I found that another may heat up that I didn't expect to.  Funny how things work out.  Hi ho...

[tree68]

Hmmm.  Don't recall seeing an "M59" on the highway yet...  That's a major E-W artery where I lived.  In fact, we lived on that highway (well, next to it) for several years...

Trespasser fatality back home (I'm still in MD).  Three AM Sunday morning.  No other details.  A local forum has discussion on it, but no where near as caustic as they get here....  That, and friends and family have weighed in, too.  'Nuff said. 

The little one is sleeping on Daddy's chest.  I held her earlier for a while.   Still sorting out her schedule.

[CShaveRR]

Nothing to report yet today. We're waiting for an important package to be delivered today, which we'll have to take with us on the trip to Joliet tomorrow.

I relieved the new guy at work again yesterday--he seems to handle Tower A very well, and doesn't look at all shaken when he leaves (that's just not normal!). He drives an Infiniti M45--a very nice car, but to me, M45 is the state highway we used to take from home to college (that applies to both Pat and me, coming at the college from opposite directions--meeting each other halfway, as it were). Why anyone would name a fancy car after that road is beyond me (though, in all fairness, portions of the road have been substantially improved in the past few years)!

Time for the grandkids later today...they had a rough weekend at the family lake house in Wisconsin (not the Shaver Family), and are still recovering.

Just saw over on Trainorders that a unit train of windmill bases had gone through here yesterday evening. Wish I could have seen it! They were going west to Global 3 for transloading to trucks.

As for the CSX wreck in Indiana last week, a news report this morning says that they had been working on the tracks in the area. Since another report had mentioned a sun-kink, this is an all-too-familiar story on that railroad--disastrous sun-kinks in the area where maintenance work leaves off, for whatever reason.

[CShaveRR]

Happy Father's Day to all of you who are fathers!

And to the rest of you (and to some of the same folks), please give an extra loving thought to the man who, biologically or otherwise, helped make you what you are today.

___________________

I love quiet Sunday mornings! I got up an hour ago, and have heard six freight trains go through town so far. It used to mean a lot of work for us, but these days most of them are intermodal or unit trains, not destined for classification at Proviso (or the result of same). It is also nice to hear only the locomotives--haven't heard any flat wheels, rattles, or squeaks from the trains that have gone through.

Enough reverie! Time for work!

[CShaveRR]

zardoz

Is Uncle Pete still using this tactic to generate ton-miles?

I guess so--moves like this have to be in the statistics somewhere. But I'm pretty sure it's not deliberate. And 140 tons or so handled about 300 or so extra miles is a drop in the bucket. From what I've gathered, they'd be more likely to tell people that those drops of fuel could have been put to better use doing something else.

_________________

Had a retarder fall apart on me today; we lost a solid two hours (maybe more) of humping time due to this. A couple of beams became dislodged due to broken springs underneath. We fortunately didn't have too many cars in the receiving yard, so we left that yard only a little fuller than we found it.

_________________

Not to be outdone by the Diner, we have Saturday Evening Produce in Lombard, in the form of the Farmers' Market. Couldn't ask for a better place for it--a commuter parking lot that is right up against the main line. We caught two trains while we were there, acquiring cherries, peaches, raspberries, and asparagus (I like asparagus; it doesn't especially like me--Pat will eat more than I). The bike ride to and from this spot also can include a trip past the weekly Cruise Night along St. Charles Road. We found a couple of dozen cars (are some of these really antiques? I remember more than a few when they were new); later in the evening there will be a lot more of them.

[zardoz]

CShaveRR

But it came from Waukegan, not out west! So I looked up the record. Sure enough, the car had been bad-ordered out west somewhere, on its way east from Wyoming. Proviso first humped it on June 6 (the last day of my vacation), and sent it west to Sterling, Illinois. Sterling, naturally, sent it back to us. The next time it was humped (I didn't note when, but it wasn't while I was working!) it was sent to Waukegan. And again today, it came back to us.

Is Uncle Pete still using this tactic to generate ton-miles?

[CShaveRR]

We had a total of three bands of thunderstorms go through here yesterday: one around dawn, one in mid-afternoon, and one after bedtime. Kept me awake for, oh, about 30 seconds. It's drying up out there now, but promises to be a muggy day, with a high near 90.

Johnny, thanks for the vote of confidence!

This morning I get to relieve the new guy, who worked for the first time on his own last night. He should have done pretty well; he certainly impressed me in the few hours I had to work with him.

[Deggesty]

CShaveRR

If I had my way, I think CROs and Conductors would all go through a course on how to read hump sheets (there's a lot of valuable information there beyond track destination and weight!) and a basic geography lesson (why would you not send a CSX car for Cincinnati to Cumberland instead? Would a car destined for Arizona go via North Platte or Des Moines? Just where is Selkirk, or Conway, or Eagle Grove, or Adams? Which railroad handles our interchange with the SouthShore?).

Good idea, Carl! The people who study the situation before they start their work can often accomplish more than if they simply look at what comes to them when it comes.

I think I have mentioned this before, on another thread, that when I was actively engaged in the production of computer chips. another man and I more or less oversaw all the work done on our shift. Before going into the fab, we would look at where each lot of wafers in process was, and each told the other about when to expect each lot that would move from one area to the other. Thus, each section would be ready to take what came to it and begin processing it as soon as it came. We were accused of cheating because we moved more product than either of the other two shifts. I do know of at least one instance in which an operator whom I relieved recorded that she had finished the process on one lot even though one or two wafers (out of twenty-four) had not yet been processed. I rather doubt that the following was deliberate, but one day one of her blond hairs found its way into the vacuum loadlock of the machine (ion implanter) and I had to call for maintenance to remedy the situation when the load chamber could not be evacuated.

[CShaveRR]

OK...to elaborate on the last paragraph of my previous post, there are obviously a whole heap of people who don't know what to do with a "mystery" car.

Cars that get separated from unit coal trains are a case in point: if a car gets set out (usually as a bad-order), it will come to us in a manifest freight. Empty cars are easy--they show up in the "EHOP" classification, and we send them to North Platte, where they have an entire yard for filling out consists, and they can be placed in their proper train--not an easy thing to do here at Proviso, where unit-train consists usually aren't broken.

Loads, on the other hand, are classified as "COAL", and shown as going to our Hold track. We normally send them to the next classification point close to the destination. But unless one is familiar with the cars themselves, or knows how to interpret the station codes, or where these locations are, it doesn't do a bit of good.

So today, a "COAL" car arrived today on Job 77. A yard job, a glorified local that serves Chicago (via the North Avenue yard) and Waukegan. I know of no place in Waukegan where coal is loaded, so it was evident to me that the car was sent there by mistake. The car was a CAEG gon, destined for an Amaren Energy plant in central Illinois, off our line at Sommer, near Peoria. The reporting mark was a giveaway to me, as was the station code. Our regular conductor told us to send it to Peoria, the correct destination in our scheme of things (he said he knew to do that because I had pounded it into him a few times).

But it came from Waukegan, not out west! So I looked up the record. Sure enough, the car had been bad-ordered out west somewhere, on its way east from Wyoming. Proviso first humped it on June 6 (the last day of my vacation), and sent it west to Sterling, Illinois. Sterling, naturally, sent it back to us. The next time it was humped (I didn't note when, but it wasn't while I was working!) it was sent to Waukegan. And again today, it came back to us. I suspect it won't be returned this time.

My point? I keep saying how they're going to miss me when I'm gone, but that's one thing that shouldn't ever happen. One or two hump conductors (at least!) don't know where to send a car destined for Sommer, and the CROs don't have the brains (or the balls) to question it. In the case of the first misrouting, it's plausible that the conductor didn't have a Peoria track to send the car to (things were pretty congested), so he sent it to Sterling, assuming that it could get to Peoria from there (there is a big aversion to even maintaining a hold track here). But Waukegan? Waukegan? That's just gross ignorance or indifference. And after the hump put it there, it got past at least one yardmaster who was probably too harried to set it out (or, again, didn't know).

Maybe I'm just getting old and geezerly, and should retire. I'll gingerly step off the soapbox now.

[CShaveRR]

No, I don't decide a thing. A peer trainer was observing (from the hump) while this trainee went through his paces in all three towers. He did great while he was up with me (first time I'd met him, and we hit it off pretty well), and he went to the lower towers, where he did almost as well (certainly as well as some of the regulars!). What remains to be seen is how well he does when he's all alone up there on an assignment, with nobody nearby to encourage or advise him.

I appreciate not being called on (in most cases) to help with the raw recruits, because I'm not an easy person to work with (I think we've been through this discussion before). Even this guy was surprised at the way I routinely handle things.

If I had my way, I think CROs and Conductors would all go through a course on how to read hump sheets (there's a lot of valuable information there beyond track destination and weight!) and a basic geography lesson (why would you not send a CSX car for Cincinnati to Cumberland instead? Would a car destined for Arizona go via North Platte or Des Moines? Just where is Selkirk, or Conway, or Eagle Grove, or Adams? Which railroad handles our interchange with the SouthShore?).

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

CShaveRR

[snip] Today I had a CRO trainee for a while; he is no longer a trainee. In this particular case, that's a good thing: he's now one of us! 

You're the 'final test', then, Carl ?  The UP leaves it up to you to decide whether they live or die - excuse me, pass or fail ?  "Satisfy him or back to your bench, unworthy apprentice !" 

- Paul.

[CShaveRR]

Bruce, that locomotive and combine is 'way before my time. Nonetheless, I think we can rule out bicycles...

___________________

Birthday greetings to Bev S. She's not a Forum participant herself, but everybody who knows Willy 2 in person will recognize Bev as his mother--an active supporter of Willy's hobbies.

___________________

My younger daughter won a cribbage board (first prize) in a tournament in Lawrence University a few years back.

___________________

Today I had a CRO trainee for a while; he is no longer a trainee. In this particular case, that's a good thing: he's now one of us!

[AgentKid]

blhanel

Is that shorthand for cribbage?

 

Yes. Maybe it is a western Canadian thing, but everybody around here always called it crib.

Bruce

 

[blhanel]

AgentKid

The game around our house was crib.

Is that shorthand for cribbage?  Cribbage is my favorite card game.

[AgentKid]

CShaveRR

My great-aunt was the unbeatable Scrabble player in our family. She could barely read the tiles at her age, but played up until she went into Hospice and died at 98. Now my mother's the formidable opponent.

The game around our house was crib. I would visit my mother several times a month after my father passed away and play a two out of three set. We did this up until several years ago, when issues with her hands made it too difficult for her to handle cards.

She had a frustrating style, but boy it worked. I've played a lot of hardcore players who pretty much had the same winning system, but my mother played with a happy-go-lucky style that was disturbingly successful. She won more games than she lost.

I was just over looking at the Classic Trains Photo of the Day (06-17), and I had a question for Carl or anyone else familiar with old C&NW operations. The picture is of a Chicago area commuter train and the first car is a baggage/passenger combine. Was it a case of this car being available that morning, or was there a specific reason to need a baggage compartment on a commuter train? I don't believe I've ever seen a situation like this before. I hope someone has an answer. Thanks.

Bruce

 

[CShaveRR]

Yes, I did, Dan. Pat and I report to Joliet next Tuesday.

Just saw where CSX had a major wreck on this end of the old B&O main line (I'm not familiar with the precise location, but it's on a crossover a few miles east of Willowcreek, Indiana). Both main tracks are blocked. It's a stack train--news reports say over 60 cars derailed, but I suspect that they were counting containers, or possibly tubs (or both).

Pleasant day at work today. By choice, I was the only CRO working that didn't have a trainee with him/her. If those guys survive and continue to train on days, things could get interesting.

[CNW 6000]

Congrats on the granddaughter Larry.  Seems like I keep forgetting to come in here as often, hmm.  Did you ever get that phone call you allude to earlier Carl?

[CShaveRR]

Congratulations, Larry, on the granddaughter--and also on being in the right place at the right time!

You've caught up with me in the grandchild department, and, if I remember correctly, it's the same mixture: two female, one male.

Time to send birthday wishes and other surprises out to our California girl--she felt another earthquake the night before last. Still likes living there, though (her reaction to the quake: "Wheeeee!").

My great-aunt was the unbeatable Scrabble player in our family. She could barely read the tiles at her age, but played up until she went into Hospice and died at 98. Now my mother's the formidable opponent. On the other hand, I was the reigning family champ (all families) at Boggle (a bit rusty now, though!).

[tree68]

Scrabble - haven't played that in ages.  When I was shipboard there was a crewmember who looked like he'd have trouble figuring out which end of a power drill to hang on to.  I understand he was unbeatable in Scrabble.

As noted over at the diner, grandchild #3 arrived at 10:16 this morning, all 7 lbs, 14 oz of her.  All are doing well.

Time for some rest - 2 YO is out shopping with a neighbor.

[CShaveRR]

Bob, I'll bet she had a crummie over that one! (Spell-check doesn't like it, by the way--"crummies", either.)

I haven't played Scrabble in ages. Our friend Nora recently posted a picture of the game board while her two young ones were playing--funniest thing you ever saw!

___________________

Man, the things one has to go through to get a date these days!

[spokyone]

 This past weekend, I played Scrabble with a sister. Late in the game she announced the score was tied. I said I was going to break the tie. I had C-R-U-M-blank-I-S on my rack. I bisected a word with an E to spell CRUMMIES for 50 point bonus for playing all my tiles. She challenged because CRUMMY is an adjective. We only use the SCRABBLE dictionary to verify. Of course I was right, but the noun  "crummie" and pl "crummies"  is a cow with a crooked horn.  Who would have known that?

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

CShaveRR

  That is strange. Do they know for sure that the damage was caused by contact with each other and not something, say, in between the tracks? You're right, MC--our tracks wouldn't rock the trains that seriously. [snip] 

I thought it might be a shifted load - trailer or container - on one train side-swiped down the side of the other.  But the linked article says the damaged/ dislodged loads included 29 containers on the EB train, and 39 trailers on the WB train, which shoots that theory - a shifted load likely would have involved only a few on its train.  That's also a long extent of damage for a wind gust or something else of a temporary or transient nature.  Also, that was late at night, so it likely wasn;t a 'sun kink' that brought the tracks closer together.  The mains appear to be a decent distance apart - maybe this happened at an OH or UG bridge where the tracks are closer together - I've seen some in suburban Phila. that are just over 12 ft. centers, in a station area where they're 'tied into' an adjacent old deck girder bridge on stone abutments with a narrow roadway underneath . . .  Will be curious and interested in what the actual cause turns out to have been. 

- Paul North.

[CShaveRR]

I just read in the Newswire about Michigan Tech offering a "camp" in rail transportation to high-school-age students. Subscribers can follow the link if they wish, at which they will find this:

Scholarships for Rail & Intermodal Transportation

Sign up today for this exciting exploration!

CLICK HERE for an application.

Engineering

Rail and Intermodal Transportation

51977 • grades 9 - 11 • July 11 - July 17 • Limited to 20 students

Prerequisites: Partial Scholarships available ($375). Must provide a teacher recommendation and transcript (minimum 3.0 GPA) as part of your application.

Why are trains called the "green transportation alternative"? How do products find their way from China to the shelves at Wal-Mart? How fast can high-speed passenger trains move? This exploration introduces you to the wide world of rail and intermodal transportation, touching both passenger and freight traffic. You get to ride a train, see a massive locomotive in action, and learn how companies use trucks, trains and ships to transport products from all over the world to the U.S. You will also find out how fast passenger trains can run in different parts of the world, why railroads are so energy-efficient and why rail transit is used to move masses of people in large metropolitan areas. NOTE: exploration is open to students entering grades 10-12.

Note: Live-in participants only. This exploration will travel to various locations throughout the week, including Duluth, MN, with a night's stay in Superior, WI.

____________________

Michigan Tech is in Houghton, Michigan, at the base of the Keewenaw Peninsula, north and west of Marquette (in Yooper country). There isn't much in the way of railroading in the immediate area any more, though the area was once laced with railroad lines to serve Michigan's copper-mining industry. The lift bridge between Houghton and Hancock has two levels; the lower level (on which the railroad crossed the ship channel) can be raised to without disturbing highway traffic on the upper level.

[CShaveRR]

That is strange. Do they know for sure that the damage was caused by contact with each other and not something, say, in between the tracks? You're right, MC--our tracks wouldn't rock the trains that seriously.

___________________

The life-changing call I was expecting today didn't come--maybe tomorrow.

___________________

Pat and I had an interesting birthday dinner with grandchildren and their parents. I think poor Birthday Boy Nico had sensory overload at 2Toots in Glen Ellyn: model trains delivering the food, Thomas on the TV screen, and one freight and at least four scoots on the UP line right past the site. At any rate, he didn't eat enough dinner to merit his birthday cupcake...so nobody got dessert. When he says "train" now, it's becoming more understandable.

Immortal quote from Emily (she of the scraped knee and black eye obtained in an encounter with a box): "Could I please have a glass of water with a lemon wedgie?"

[mudchicken]

DOES NOT PASS THE SMELL TEST:

http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/article_0b78c1e8-7657-11df-a752-001cc4c002e0.html

(Especially on the UP Transcon)....Key information missing.